IDS secretary tells of chaos in his office and questions Betsy's role

By Benedict Brogan, Political Correspondent

12:01AM BST 15 Oct 2003

Iain Duncan Smith's constituency office was in "chaos" and his private office "badly run" in the months after he became leader, according to a leaked memo prepared by the secretary who claimed she was "solely" responsible for running his office.

Christina Watson, the Tory leader's private secretary, gave a detailed account of the organisational challenge she faced in a document seen by The Telegraph.

Her description of the way the office operated, written a year ago, was submitted to the official inquiry into Mr Duncan Smith's affairs by Michael Crick, the BBC journalist.

Miss Watson's seven-page memo described strained relations among his staff and the work she did to make the office run more smoothly. It made only one reference to Mrs Duncan Smith, despite her claim that she was the "sheet anchor" of the operation.

Miss Watson's evidence could prove crucial to Sir Philip's inquiry. He will want to question her about any differences between her memo and the joint statement to the inquiry she made with the Duncan Smiths to support their claim.

She is one of four members of Mr Duncan Smith's staff who made statements to the leader's lawyers and who will be expected to give evidence to Sir Philip in his defence. Mr Crick said the memo painted "a very different picture" to the version submitted on Monday by Mr Duncan Smith's lawyers to Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Miss Watson's account was sent to Vanessa Gearson on Oct 24 last year, shortly after she was appointed Mr Duncan Smith's chief of staff. Mrs Gearson has since fallen out with the leader after she raised with him her concerns about Mrs Duncan Smith's position.

In the memo, marked "Strictly Private and Confidential", Miss Watson said: "I was solely running Iain's very busy constituency office without assistance but also making sure the Leader's office was in order."

She described how she received "no extra help" clearing the backlog of constituency correspondence after the 2001 leadership contest. By contrast, the statement issued by Mr Duncan Smith and his wife to Sir Philip on Monday night declared that "BDS" - Betsy Duncan Smith - "assisted in clearing" the backlog.

Miss Watson's note describes point-by-point what her work - first as constituency secretary then as private secretary - entailed, including overseeing interns, running his diary, organising press cuttings, setting up a filing system, and transporting equipment for a temporary office at party conference.

Some of her tasks were more basic, such as buying a suit carrier for Mr Duncan Smith and arranging for it to be delivered to him by hand in Eastbourne.

In what Mr Crick claims is a direct contradiction of the statement made by Mrs Duncan Smith, only one of Miss Watson's 39 points refers to "Betsy". It describes how at some point between August and October last year, while she was still being paid, Mrs Duncan Smith asked Miss Watson to take over her responsibilities.

Miss Watson said: "Betsy has asked me to do what work she may have, keep her papers in order, invitations and draft letters when necessary. Also it is important to keep her informed at all times of changes in the diary."

She told Mrs Gearson she was a "breath of fresh air" who had observed "how badly things were run" since taking over as chief of staff.

At the centre of the row, which has left a question mark over Mr Duncan Smith's integrity, is a dispute over the £15,000 in salary paid to his wife out of public funds during the 16 months after he was elected leader in Sep 2001.

Mr Crick claims he has evidence, including statements from four current or former Conservative Central Office employees, that suggests she was put on the leader's payroll, but did no work.

The BBC's Newsnight programme refused to run his report on the eve of last week's Tory conference, citing legal concerns.

Mr Duncan Smith has threatened legal action against any newspaper that repeats the allegations but has so far taken no action against those that have.